Malaysia

Well, it has been a while since I updated this. Let me start back a ways. After Thanksgiving I was home in CT for a week, then back on the road again. This time, to Malaysia, to participate in a panel of experts that advises the PM of Malaysia on biotechnology. To be politic, I don't want to say much about the meeting, but I will say the PM - Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi - is in my opinion an amazing leader. He is a devout Muslim, but steers a careful course of moderation for his country, which is developed and modern for that part of the world. He seems sincerely interested in biotech and ways to develop the resources of his country. This is not easy in the current climate and even with the diversity of the Malaysian population - Malay, Chinese and Indian are the three major nationalities - the voice of more radical Islamists is strong.

Malaysia is a very beautiful country, and I've only seen a tiny bit of it. We were in Kuala Lumpur ('KL' to experienced southeast Asian travelers!) and just outside in the suburb of Putrajaya, where the government is predominantly located. It was a bit of a shock in early December to wake up to temperatures already in the 90's and humid to boot! I stayed in a beautiful hotel in Putrajaya the first few nights; the picture above shows the lovely grounds and swimming pool. There were flowers in bloom everywhere, orchids and other exotic flowers. Most days it rained in the late afternoon, but that didn't seem to help the heat much and it certainly didn't reduce the humidity! A major product of Malaysian agriculture is palm oil - which comes from the nuts of the oil palm, Elaeis guineensis. I visited the Palm Oil Board of Malaysia and got a detailed explanation of how oil palm is grown, harvested and the oil extracted. Palm oil evidently got a bad rap a few years ago in the US food industry, mostly from the corn oil production industry who claimed the high percentage of saturated fat in palm oil contributed to high cholesterol and heart disease. Several recent studies have suggested that palm oil is actually good for you - has a fair amount of linoleic acid (an essential omega-6 fatty acid) as well as other things that lower cholesterol. Raw palm oil has the highest concentration of carotenoids of any natural source - 15 times as much as carrots, and is also a good source of vitamins A and E. Malaysia is the number one country producing palm oil - these days in addition to food products, they are using it to make biodiesel which is actually price competitive with petroleum-based diesel in Europe, I'm told.

The next few days I spent in downtown KL. Stayed at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, and the picture at left was the view from my window. These are the Petronas Towers, the tallest 'twin towers' in the world, and the world's third largest building (behind the Sears Tower and some building in Taipei). Kuala Lumpur is an incredibly modern, bustling city, with all the amenities for doing business. I attended a biotech conference held in a huge conference center right across from the hotel. It will be interesting to see if Malaysia can home-grow a biotech industry, as they did with electronics and telecom.

December 9, back on an airplane: KL to Hong Kong to SF, where I will meet Don.